Peter MacKinnon’s book, University Commons Divided: Exploring Debate and Dissent on Campus, has been shortlisted for the Donner Prize. The selection criteria for the prize identifies three areas of scrutiny: The importance of the subject; The soundness and originality of the analysis in terms of identifying and defining the issues in question and presenting authoritative analysis […]

I don't know if there's a German word for that feeling when you're so horrified that it becomes entertaining, but if there isn't, someone should probably coin it for Black people reading the police comments in the report.

It’s been a week since the street check report was released. Despite all the politicians and police board members and police leaders being so “shocked and saddened” by the statistics, unsurprisingly, here we are a week later with politicians derailing action by talking about ending quotas that never formally existed and the police don’t admit […]

Saturday, young people in Halifax’s Black community led a conversation at the North Library about Scot Wortley’s report on street checks and the effects of street checks on them. After the conversation, there was a march from the library to the police station (and then on to Province House) demanding an end to street checks. […]

We’ve been talking a lot about our deaths lately. If I die before you, I instruct the people I love, don’t let my name be used for wack shit. I’m counting on you. I follow with instructions for various scenarios. If I die violently, remember how I felt about prisons. Don’t let one of the […]

This week, Jody Wilson-Raybould’s testimony about SNC-Lavalin dominated Canadian politics. My timeline is filled with articles praising her integrity, her courage, her honesty. And yet, only weeks ago, these same newspapers ran articles quoting colleagues calling her “difficult,” “not a team player,” “hard to work with” — in short, a bitch. In her testimony, Wilson-Raybould […]

Colley was the leading points scorer in Canadian women's university basketball history. And then she walked away from a potential career as an Olympian and WNBA star. Now Justine Colley-Leger is finding her political voice.

Justine Colley-Leger’s path seemed to be mapped out for her. She left Saint Mary’s University as the leading points scorer in Canadian university women’s basketball history. She was already an established national team member. Fans imagined her starring at the Olympics, playing for the WNBA or pursuing a career in Europe, years and years of […]

It’s February, the most dangerous month of the year for free speech and free expression in Canada. A good way to start off the month if you’re white is by a bunch of white people having a conversation among themselves about how important it is to have a conversation about whether blackface is racist or […]

In his book, Interim Dalhousie President Peter MacKinnon downplays and excuses the wearing of blackface while mischaracterizing and sidelining those who object to it. But MacKinnon ignores the vast scholarship on blackface, so let's hear from the scholars.

INTRODUCTION On Monday afternoon, Dalhousie students protested the welcoming reception for incoming president Peter MacKinnon. As Tim noted on Tuesday, “The students are particularly riled over MacKinnon’s book, University Commons Divided: Exploring Debate & Dissent on Campus.” One of the serious issues students identified in their press release is MacKinnon’s declaration in the book that blackface […]

The following is a statement issued by prisoners in the Burnside jail. We, the prisoners of Burnside, stand with all oppressed people over the world. These tyrannical times are hard on those who fight for freedom. We realize that some of these battles against criminal systems of injustice have been going on since the beginning of […]

"Nobody will help us...In some ways the silence is worse than the violence."

Prisoners in the Burnside jail say that conditions are “worse than ever” since the peaceful protest that ended September 9. They are calling for independent oversight of the provincial prisons and an external review of conditions, legal aid funding for adequate representation for habeas applications, and intervention by the Human Rights Commission. They describe a […]

The Wrongful Conviction of Glen Assoun

In 1995, Brenda Way was brutally murdered behind a Dartmouth apartment building. In 1999, Glen Assoun was found guilty of the murder. He served 17 years in prison, but steadfastly maintained his innocence. In 2019, Glen Assoun was fully exonerated.

DEAD WRONG

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